The EduSeis Project: Three years of educational experiences on seismology

Abstract

The Educational Seismology Project (EduSeis) is a scientific and educational effort which involves high schools, scientific museums and research institutes in four different European countries: France, Italy, Portugal, and Germany. The Italian program, which is part of an existing cooperation between the Science Centre Città della Scienza of Naples and the University of Naples has the aim of developing modern and advanced educational tools in Earth Sciences, using seismology as a vehicle for scientific learning. As a result of this program, a network of digital seismographs has been installed in a number of high schools in Central and Southern Italy. The purpose of this network is to make advanced, research-level instruments and data analysis tools available to schools and to increase the students attention to observations of earth phenomena and earth science in general. For increasing the student and public awareness on seismic risk has been realized a school lab (SISMALAB), a new interactive exhibit opened to museum visitors and high school classes. Two related editorial activities started aimed at the diffusion of the EduSeis project: an information booklet entitled “Earthquakes – How, where, when, why…”., and a bimestrial electronic Newsletter (in Italian, http://www.cittadellascienza.it/sismalab/).